JP2006236232A - Information processor, information processing method and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To dispense with duplicate storage of the same image even after replacement of images by storing a structured document describing identification information of images in a digital camera in a storage part. <P>SOLUTION: Prevention of duplication of the same file, saving of memory and shortening of receiving time are realized by preventing receipt of a file which is already owned. Information uniquely identifying a file regardless of its storage destination is described in a different document, whereby the file is identified, at the time of receipt thereof, to be the same file or not even if it has a format independent from DCF storage structure. As a premise, the storage part holds the structured document describing identification information of all stored files, and adds identification information of new files every time they are stored. The content to be described in the structured document is information uniquely identifying the file even if it is stored in any equipment. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, an information processing method, and a program for uniquely identifying and storing or receiving data without duplication.

  When exchanging data between multiple image information on a single template in the form of a structured document, etc., when exchanging data between devices equipped with a transmission / reception function and storage device, a directory specified as the transmission source is used to prevent double registration of data. When the structure does not exist, after generating the directory structure and the attribute file directory, there is a method of determining whether or not the data has been registered by changing the free character portion of the data name (for example, [Patent Document 1]). reference).

  There is a method of storing data stored in a group area such as a folder for each data creation date in a data storage apparatus without duplication of group areas (see, for example, [Patent Document 2]).

  In addition, there is a classification storage method for classifying and storing received data for each sender and each reception in order to store data names without duplication without losing the relevance of a plurality of received data (for example, [Patent Documents] 3]).

In addition, there is a method of extracting image identification information from an image file and determining the identity with an image stored in another image file based on the extracted identification information (see, for example, [Patent Document 4]).
JP 2003-76590 A JP 2001-51877 A JP 2000-1112799 A JP 2003-209777 A

  In the method of generating a directory structure or attribute file directory in accordance with the directory structure on the receiving side and changing the free character part of the data name in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-76590, the above processing is required every time data is received. The hierarchical structure becomes complicated.

  In the methods disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 2000-1112799 and 2001-51877, folders must be created even when there is only one received data, the number of folders becomes enormous, and the directory structure is unnecessary for the user. Makes it difficult to manage data.

  A problem common to the conventional methods is that even if the data names are different and the content of the data is the same, there is no means to determine that the data is the same content. Hold it.

  The method disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-209777 cannot cope with the case where identification information is stored in a place other than an image file.

  In order to solve the above problems, an information processing apparatus of the present invention has the following configuration. That is, information necessary for uniquely identifying all data is described in the structured document as data identification information and stored in the storage unit, and data storage unit storing the data identification information Data identification information extracting means for extracting data identification information, and identical content data identifying means for identifying whether the data has the same content from the extracted identification information by the data identification information extracting means.

  According to the present invention, data transmission / reception with an external device is performed by referring to structured document data including a data name or a data path name held in a directory of the information processing apparatus and identification information of the data. In this case, even if the data names are different and the contents of the data are the same, it can be determined that the data has the same contents based on the identification information, so that double registration of the same data can be prevented. Since duplicate data is not stored, the storage capacity can be used efficiently without waste. In addition, by transmitting and receiving identification information in advance, data already saved by the receiving side is not transmitted, and both transmission and reception times can be shortened. Furthermore, since the data can be uniquely identified without depending on the directory structure, a simple directory structure is sufficient, and the user can easily manage the data without being aware of the directory structure and the data name.

<Embodiment 1>
Embodiments of an information processing apparatus according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In this embodiment, an information processing apparatus mounted on a digital still camera will be described as an example of the information processing apparatus according to the present invention.

  FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an outline of a system including an information processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, an information processing apparatus 101 according to an embodiment of the present invention is connected to a LAN 102. A storage server 103, a network printer 104, a digital still camera 105, a PC 106, and a PDA 107 are connected to the LAN 102. In the configuration shown in the figure, each device is connected to a LAN. However, for realizing the present invention, a configuration may be used in which communication is performed using a wireless LAN or a telephone line.

  FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a network configuration when a wireless LAN including an information processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention is used. In the figure, a CPU 301 is a system control unit and controls the entire apparatus. The ROM 302 stores a control program for the CPU 301 and various fixed data. A RAM 303 is configured by SRAM, DRAM, and the like, and is used for storing program control changes and the like. Various setting parameters and various work buffers are also stored in the RAM 303. The storage unit 304 includes a hard disk and stores data such as documents and images, and the external storage device 305 also plays the same role. The operation unit 306 is configured by a touch panel or the like, and is used by the operator to perform various input operations. An interface 307 is used for transmitting / receiving information to / from external devices such as the storage 308 and the digital still camera 309 via a wireless LAN.

  The configuration shown in FIG. 2 shows a part of an information processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. Depending on the apparatus, a scanner unit, a printer unit, a modem, a speaker, and the like are added to the configuration of the apparatus. There is a case. Further, when the present invention is realized by software or the like, each block shown in FIG.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing structured document data necessary for identifying data stored in the information processing apparatus according to the present invention. The structured document data as shown in the figure is a text file described in the XML format, and is used to identify the data collection element (401), individual data elements (402), and data stored therein. Item elements (403).

  In this embodiment, the structured document data includes two elements, that is, the date and time when the data is created as an item element for identifying the data and the hash value created based on the data, in association with the path element of the data. As long as the data identification information and the path information are uniquely associated, the number of item elements for identification is not limited. In this embodiment, the document format is XML, but the format is not limited as long as it is a structured document.

  FIG. 4 is an example before and after the data path change in a part of the received identification information structured document in the information processing apparatus according to the present invention. As shown in the figure, the child element (502) in which the information for uniquely identifying the data is described is not changed, only the path of each data element (501) is changed, and then all the data of the user is changed. Add to a structured document that contains identification information.

  FIG. 5 shows an example of the directory structure of the information processing apparatus according to the present invention. In the figure, data is stored in a directory structure with a smaller number of layers, and structured document data INDEX4C. The MDF is stored in one independent directory.

  In this embodiment, the structured document data is stored in one independent directory. However, the directory in which the information processing apparatus of the present invention is stored is not limited as long as it is under the root directory from which the structured document data can be read. In this embodiment, the directory structure conforms to the DCF standard. However, any directory structure can be applied as long as the structured document data can be read by the information processing apparatus.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment relating to an operation when the information processing apparatus according to the present embodiment transmits and receives data to and from an external device via a wireless LAN will be described. Although a transmission / reception protocol is not particularly described in the present embodiment, TCP / IP, HTTP, FTP may be used, or e-mail may be used.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating the transmission operation of the information processing apparatus according to the present embodiment. Hereinafter, description will be made along the flowchart of FIG. Data to be transmitted is selected for an external device having a receiving function (S601). Each time one piece of data is selected, identification information of the selected data is read from the structured document data held in another directory and added to the structured document for transmission (S602). If the data selection is continued in (S603), the process returns to (S601). When the data selection is completed, a transmission destination is designated by an operation unit such as a voice or a touch panel (S604), and the selected data and the structured document for transmission describing the identification information of the data are transmitted to the designated external device. (S605), the transmission mode is terminated.

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating the receiving operation of the information processing apparatus according to the present embodiment and the operation for determining whether or not the data is the same. Hereinafter, description will be made along the flowchart of FIG. First, it is notified that data has been transmitted from an external device, and it is confirmed whether or not data is received (S701). If it is selected not to receive, the reception mode ends. If it is selected to receive, 0 is set to the variable n (S702). The variable n is a variable that counts the number of data that is confirmed to be duplicated. A structured document in which identification information of data to be transmitted is described is read, and the total number of data to be transmitted is stored in N (S703). It is determined whether or not the reception process is continued by comparing the total number N of transmitted data and the variable n + 1 (S704). If the condition that n + 1 is larger than N is not satisfied, the nth transmitted data is compared with the structured document in which the identification information of the stored data is described. It is confirmed whether there is a match with (S706). If there is no matching data, the data is renamed according to its own directory structure and saved (S708). With the change of the data name, the path name described in the structured document of the received identification information is also changed (S709). After adding the identification information of the received data whose path name has been changed to the structured document in which the identification information of all of its own data is described (S710), add 1 to the variable n (S711), and return to (S704), The same processing is repeated until the above condition is satisfied. If it matches the data already stored, the received data is not stored, 1 is added to the variable n (S710), the process returns to (S704), and the same processing is repeated until the above condition is satisfied. If the condition is satisfied, the reception process is stopped, the reception data list is displayed (S705), and the reception mode is terminated.

  FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the receiving operation of the information processing apparatus according to the present embodiment and the operation for preventing the transmitting side from sending the same data by transmitting and receiving the identification information first. Hereinafter, description will be made along the flowchart of FIG. First, it is notified that data has been transmitted from an external device, and it is confirmed whether or not data is received (S801). If it is selected not to receive, the reception mode ends. If it is selected to receive, a structured document in which identification information of data to be transmitted is described is received and read first (S802). The variable n is set to 0, and the number of individual data elements of the received structured document is stored in N (S803). The variable n is a variable that counts the number of data that is confirmed to be duplicated. It is determined whether or not the reception process is continued by comparing the total number N of transmitted data and the variable n + 1 (S804). If the condition that n + 1 is larger than N is not satisfied, the identification information that is a child element of the nth data element is already stored as compared with the structured document in which the identification information of the data stored in the memory is described. It is checked whether there is a matching data among the data (S805). If there is no matching data, after adding that it does not have this data to the data element of the received structured document (S806), 1 is added to the variable n (S807), (S804) The same processing is repeated until the above condition is satisfied. If it matches the data already stored, nothing is added to the received structured document, 1 is added to the variable n (S807), the process returns to (S804), and so on until the above condition is satisfied. Repeat the process. If the above condition is satisfied, it is confirmed whether there is any additional data element in the received structured document (S808). If not, the received data is displayed as a list (S817), and the reception mode is terminated. If there is an additional entry, the added structured document is sent back (S809). The data transmission side transmits only the data added to the data element from the returned structured document (S810). The data receiving side sets variable n to 0, and stores the total number of data to be transmitted in N (S811). It is determined whether or not the reception process is continued by comparing the total number N of transmitted data and the variable n + 1 (S812). If the condition that n + 1 is larger than N is not satisfied, the path name is changed according to its own directory structure and stored (S813). Along with the change of the path name, the path name described in the structured document of the received identification information is also changed (S814). After the identification information of the received data whose path name has been changed is added to the structured document in which identification information of all of its own data is described (S815), 1 is added to the variable n (S816), and the process returns to (S812) The same processing is repeated until the above condition is satisfied. If the condition is satisfied, the reception process is stopped, a list of received data is displayed (S817), and the reception mode is terminated.

  In the present embodiment, the digital still camera has been described as an example, but the present invention can be applied even if the information processing apparatus of the present invention is installed in another device such as a storage or a printer.

It is the block diagram which showed the outline | summary of the system containing the information processing apparatus which concerns on the Example of this invention. It is a schematic diagram which shows the structure of the network at the time of using wireless LAN including the information processing apparatus which concerns on the Example of this invention. It is the example which showed the structured document data required for the identification of the data stored in the information processing apparatus which concerns on the Example of this invention. It is the example which showed a part of structured document data of the identification information received from the data transmission side in the information processing apparatus which concerns on the Example of this invention. It is an example of the directory structure in the information processing apparatus which concerns on the Example of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the data transmission operation | movement in the information processing apparatus which concerns on the Example of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the reception operation | movement in the information processing apparatus which concerns on the Example of this invention, and the operation | movement for discriminating the data with the same content. It is a flowchart which shows the operation | movement between the apparatuses for the reception side in the information processing apparatus which concerns on the Example of this invention, and the transmission side to be able to avoid transmitting the data with the same content.

Explanation of symbols

101 Digital still camera 102 LAN
103 Storage Server 104 Printer 105 Digital Still Camera 106 PC
107 PDA
301 CPU
302 ROM
303 RAM
304 storage unit 305 external storage device 306 operation unit 307 interface 308 storage server 309 digital still camera 401 element representing stored data set 402 individual file element 403 item element for identifying file 501 file element to be changed 502 file not to be changed Identification element

Claims (9)

Data identification information storage means for storing information necessary for uniquely identifying all data in the structured document as data identification information and storing it in the storage unit, and the data identification information stored in the storage means Data identification information extraction means for extracting
An information processing apparatus comprising: an identical content data identifying unit for identifying whether the data has the same content from the retrieved identification information by the data identification information retrieving unit. Data receiving means for receiving data from an external device equipped with a transmitting device;
Path changing means for changing the path name of the data received by the data receiving means, the path name described in the structured document according to the directory structure of the receiving side;
It further comprises the same content data search means for collating the data identification information received by the data receiving means with the data identification information of the data held by the data receiving means and searching for data having the same content. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1. Data transmitting means for transmitting data to an external device equipped with a receiving device;
2. The information according to claim 1, further comprising data identification information attachment means for attaching or appending part or all of the data identification information to the data to be transmitted when data is transmitted by the data transmission means. Processing equipment. A path determination means for determining a path name according to the directory structure of the device for creating data when creating new data;
2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising data identification information creating means for creating the data identification information that is uniquely determined no matter which information processing apparatus stores newly created data.   The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: identical content data reception refusal means for refusing reception of the data when the identical content data identification means determines that the same content data exists.   The data identification information adding means for adding the path name determined by the path determining means or the path name changed by the path changing means and the data identification information to the information held by the data identification information holding means; The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an information processing apparatus.   When changing the path name of the data by the path changing means, the path name is changed until the data path name changed by the data identification information holding means and the data identification information are added by the data identification information adding means. 7. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for temporarily holding a history.   When creating the data identification information by the data identification information creating means, the device-specific information such as the serial number, model name, manufacturer name, etc. of the device that newly created the data, and the date and time the data was created 5. The information processing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the data identification information includes at least one of a created data sequence and a hash value created based on the data.   8. The information processing apparatus according to claim 6, further comprising means for deleting a path name change history after the data identification information and the path name are added by the data identification information adding means.

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